the nucleus

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the nucleus

Meet the people who run Dragon School's artistic direction & program strategy. Some of them paint and design, some run the business affairs and outreach and some do all three. They all contribute a tremendous amount to the success of DS.

Luke is the founder of Dragon School. He immigrated from China in 1989. Luke is a proud American. He has lived in Berkeley and SF Chinatown. Luke is both a teacher and a life-long student. He studies medicine and he was once a science teacher in Guangdong and Beijing. Luke taught the students of Dragon School to spraypaint public murals. Luke appreciates the transient and impermanent nature of street-art. Just like nature, Luke Dragon's artistic style is always changing and spontaneously evolving into something unpredictable.

Andy is the Art Director and lead artist at Dragon School and a founding member. He organizes the participants on painting new murals and he maintains the ones already painted. When Andy is not painting with Dragon School, he is a graphic designer and artist. He is the most serene of the Dragon School team. Andy is an Oakland native.

The Sage

Sage is an entrepreneur and producer of contemporary urban art and is the Executive Director of Dragon School. Sage supports many local initiatives that include non-profit companies and programs focused around adolescents and teens using art as a means of expression. When he's not chasing art, he consults for businesses on marketing strategy and creative implementation.

Chris (Omael) has been working with the youth of Oakland, and specifically Chinatown since he moved here 10 years ago from Los Angeles. He's spent the last decade living in Oakland's Chinatown and teaches third grade students. Although he is experienced with spraypaint, just like the students, he is focused on learning how to improve his paintings. Omael-One has recently moved but is still on the advisory committee.

Steven Anderson is an artist born and raised and currently still residing in Oakland. He is a published illustrator of children's books and is also known for his realistic portrait paintings and charcoal work. His plan for the future is to expand his art to larger formats with Dragon School, and paint murals across the city as his contribution to Oakland's thriving art scene.

Michelle (EKKE) is originally from Los Angeles but calls the Bay Area home now. Her art captures a mixture of colorful, whimsical characters with heavy influence from both the LA graffiti art scene and Asian-American pop culture. She is passionate about community and empowering the youth through art. EKKE has experience both with non-profit volunteer work and leading youth-centric activities.

John Kelson

John is the Sponsorship Director at Dragon School, and he helps facilitate partnerships with local businesses and other organizations. John has a career as a financial adviser so is well-equipped in helping Dragon School stay fiscally responsible.

Lauren works on a variety of things from social media, organizing Dragon School speaking engagements, and marketing communications. She was born and raised in the Bay Area, moved to Southern California for school, developed a huge interest in street art and graffiti (often painted at Venice Beach) and designing stickers to trade. Lauren lives in Oakland and freelances doing social media and photography for local businesses in Oakland and San Francisco.

Anthony “Mogli” Maureal was born on the island of Cebu, in the Philippines. When he was 10 years old, his family immigrated to San Jose, California, where he discovered his passion for extreme sports and a wide array of music. Mogli majored in Sound Arts at Ex’pression College for Digital Arts. Since graduating, he has been working all over the Bay Area and now internationally as a visual artist, sound artist, composer, and musician. In addition, Mogli is a drummer/founding member of the Oakland based band MAD NOISE, as well as the music producer and photographer for the award winning theater, music and film squad RADIX Troupe.